Guide to Setting Up VoiceView Screen Reader for Fire Tablet

The VoiceView screen reader allows you to use gestures to navigate your Fire tablet and interact with content with speech output.

This Guide contains information about how to activate VoiceView, basic usage, settings, and gestures.

VoiceView Quick Start Instructions:

Power on your tablet by pressing the Power button located next to the USB power port. Wait up to a minute for the device to load the language section screen.

Press and hold the Power button until you hear an alert sound.

Hold two fingers (slightly apart) on the screen for five seconds to enable VoiceView.

The tutorial will automatically launch when VoiceView starts for the first time.

After completing the tutorial, continue setup of the device.

VoiceView Gestures:

You can turn on VoiceView from any screen by holding the Power button until you hear an alert, and then place two fingers (slightly apart) on the screen and hold for five seconds.

Explore the screen by dragging one finger on the screen.

Go to the next item by swiping right with one finger.

Go to the previous item by swiping left with one finger.

Activate an item by placing focus on it then double-tapping anywhere on the screen. If the item doesn’t activate, try slowing down or speeding up your tapping speed.

Read all from selected item by swiping down with 2 fingers.

Scroll a window by dragging three fingers on the screen.

VoiceView Settings:

You can customize your VoiceView experience by modifying user settings.

To access settings when VoiceView is on, swipe down from the top of the screen with three fingers.

Focus on “VoiceView and double-tap to activate settings” in the notifications list.

Alternatively you can navigate through the settings menus:

Swipe down from the top of the screen with three fingers.

Focus on Settings, then double tap to activate.

Focus on Accessibility, double tap to activate.

Focus on VoiceView then double tap to activate.

The following settings are available:

Reading Speed: Adjust the speed of the VoiceView voice.

Speech Volume: Set the volume level for VoiceView speech, select Match device volume to use the same volume as other media.

Sounds Volume: Set the volume level for feedback tones, or select Match device volume to use the same volume as other media.

Key Echo: Determine what is echoed back to you while entering text. By default, characters are echoed as they are typed to confirm entry. This can be changed to none, characters, words, or both characters and words.

Punctuation Level: Control what punctuation marks are read aloud.

Braille

Gestures

Cycle up in Granularity (character, word, etc.) by swiping up then down with one finger using a single motion. This allows you to step through items at the selected granularity. For example, character granularity can be used to spell a word.

Cycle down in Granularity (character, word, etc.) by swiping down then up with one finger using a single motion. This allows you to step through items at the selected granularity. For example, character granularity can be used to spell a word.

Go to next item by granularity by swiping down with one finger.

Go to previous item by granularity by swiping up with one finger.

Quickly navigate items by granularity with the jog wheel gesture. To use the jog wheel gesture, double-tap and hold with one finger anywhere on the screen and immediately draw circles clockwise or counter clockwise to move forward or backward at the granularity level.

Go to the Home screen by swiping up then left with one finger in a single motion. You can also use the Home button near the bottom middle of the screen in the soft key bar.

Move between category pages on the Home screen by swiping left or right with three fingers (for example, Books, Videos, or Music).

Go Back by swiping down then left with one finger in a single motion. You can also use the Back button near the bottom left of the screen in the soft key bar.

Open Quick Actions and Notifications by swiping down from the top of the device with three fingers. Alternatively, swipe right then down with one finger in a single motion.

Show recent apps by swiping left then up with one finger in a single motion. You can also use the App Switcher button near the bottom right of the screen in the soft key bar.

Type on the keyboard by moving one finger slowly over the keys to hear them read to you. When you hear the letter you want to type, lift your finger from the keyboard to enter the letter. If you hear a high-pitched tone, your finger has moved outside the keyboard.

Select a word from the suggested word list by typing a letter of a word, and then slide your finger from the bottom of screen until you hear a high-pitched tone. Without lifting your finger, draw circles clockwise to hear a list of suggested words. Draw circles counter-clockwise to cycle backwards through the words. Lift your finger to select the word.

Go to the next page or previous page by swiping left or right with three fingers.

Adjust an incremented control (such as a slider) by placing focus on the control you want to adjust, then use one of the following methods:

Swipe up or down with one finger.

Use the jog wheel gesture.

Swipe right then left, or left then right, with one finger in a single motion.

double-tap and hold, and then slide a finger to adjust the control.

To use the jog wheel gesture, double-tap and hold with one finger anywhere on the screen and immediately draw circles clockwise or counter clockwise to move forward or backward at the granularity level.

Long press an item by placing focus on the item, then double-tap and hold with one finger. This performs the action of holding a finger on an item as if VoiceView were disabled. For example, for an app icon on the Home screen, it would display a menu with an Uninstall option at the top of the screen.

Go to the first item on screen by tapping on upper half of screen with 4 fingers.

Go to the last item on screen by tapping on lower half of screen with 4 fingers.

Turn speech on or off by double-tapping with 3 fingers.

Enter or exit Learn mode for gesture practice by double-tapping with 4 fingers.

About Nelson Régo

Nelson Régo is the owner and founder of the Cool Blind Tech website since November of 2012. Nelson launched the first show on March 14, 2013. He also directs the website as a whole, hiring staff, originating new shows, and approving all content.

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Comments

Help – I am trying to set up a new Fire Tablet 8 for a friend and she will likely use VoiceView. Having started the tablet and loaded various things I then tried to get VoiceView working once I found out about it. But, I can’t seem to get it activate.

In reviewing your directions above again I think I may have spotted the problem. Is it necessary to ‘activate’ Voiceview even before you set up the Tablet, i.e. choose the language, Amazon account, Wifi, etc.? If this is true, does that mean I will need to do a Factory Reset and reload things again.

Were there directions with the Fire Tablet that I might have missed, though I don’t know if I would have recognized the term and importance of VoiceView at that time.

Thanks for you site and for any help you can give me. (I noticed my old blog is listed below, interesting.)